It was rough in the night, but I slept better than I thought I would. However, we were woken around 5.30 am by a loud crash in the cabin. George got out of bed and checked things in the bathroom (nothing out of place there), and I had a quick look around the cabin itself – again, nothing. Then I noticed that the bottle of water that I always keep on the bedside cabinet had vanished. Couldn’t see it anywhere. I found it later wedged between the cabinet and the back of the mattress!
Once again I wondered if FitSteps would happen, and to be fair to the girls they were ready to cut the session short if the ship’s movement became too much. But we battled on, and got through it, though we didn’t learn anything new, just revised the three of the routines from earlier in the cruise.
George meanwhile had gone to listen to another ‘mysterious death’ talk, and I later went to the Battle. And the Captain finally – finally! – came over the tannoy to tell us what’s happening. It seems the storm today is now Force 9, rising 10, and not due to ease off at all until later tomorrow. So we’re going to docking in the Azores tomorrow evening instead of Saturday morning, which explains the 20-knot speeds we’ve been keeping close to all the time. No-one will be allowed ashore until the following morning, though: the earlier arrival is to give us all (passengers and crew!) a chance to get a decent night’s sleep.
And our departure time from the Azores is still also questionable as it seems there’s another gale heading in our direction! Ah well, it is what it is, and we’ve had wonderful weather and sea conditions right up till now.
I went to the Battle again, and after lunch we both went to the theatre for one of the funniest things I’ve seen on a ship in a long time. This was an improvisation show from Steven Frost (from “What’s My line”, among other things) and three others – unscripted, and relying on suggestions from the audience. Murdering Anne Boleyn with a turkey baster, and teaching anteaters to play rugby, had me crying with laughter. There’s another show tomorrow, so we’ll definitely be going to that.
All day the ship was battling the waves. We kept hearing glasses and crockery smashing, and the dinner tables in the restaurant looked weirdly bare, with only basic stuff laid out. But we did have one ridiculous moment that had us all chuckling: sitting in Champions as the ship rolled from side to side, our chairs kept sliding across the floor. We took to hanging onto the tables to try and keep still!
Hopefully the worst will be over by the time we wake up in the morning.